Locker Room Lament
by HeavenBesideYou13
Summary: While Demelza Robins has always been outstanding at avoiding bludgers, the same can't be said for evading her feelings. Oneshot. [Demelza/Katie]


While Demelza Robins has always been outstanding at avoiding bludgers, the same can't be said for evading her feelings.

She's sitting on an old, creaky bench in the Gryffindor girl's locker room, rubbing her face vigorously with a towel. Even though it's October, she's breaking into a sweat each time she flies. It feels dreadful, dripping onto her long, thick eyelashes and sinking into her pallid skin. She blinks a few times, her baby blue eyes finally focusing on the dank locker room around her.

Demelza looks up and to the left, her eyes resting on Ginny Weasley—a close friend of hers—and, standing tall and gorgeous, Katie Bell. And that's where the story begins, or perhaps ends, or maybe it is only at the middle part, when things get all muddled up and complicated. Because that's what Katie is to Demelza: horridly complicated.

Ginny and Katie are deep in conversation, giggling and snorting over something while Demelza sits alone, taking off her Quidditch cleats. She chucks them in her locker and adjusts her school uniform as she stands, shutting the metal door with a slight clicking noise. The dented locker stand stares her down as she walks up to her two teammates, attempting a feeble smile.

Katie is possibly the most beautiful girl Demelza has ever seen. She used to always watch her in the Quidditch matches, staring through binoculars at the constant action. And there have been incessant, fantastic occurrences constantly with Harry Potter around. She usually saw Katie with Alicia and Angelina, and sometimes Leanne. In fact, Leanne is how Demelza even developed an interest in Katie. They're friends through thick and thin, and Katie and Leanne are close as can be, especially now that Alicia and Angelina have graduated and moved on with their lives. Demelza imagined she would take that as an opportunity to befriend Katie, but the thought of it somewhat petrifies her.

Demelza stands there awkwardly as they finish their conversation. She's never had the most phenomenal social skills in such situations as locker rooms, even though the Quidditch team is knitted together tighter than a sweater.

"Hey," Ginny says with a broad smile, brushing her flaming ginger hair out of her face, "we better be going now, huh?"

She leads Demelza and Kate out of the locker room, the three of them heading down the hallway together. Demelza tries not to make eye contact with Katie, feeling disgustingly intimidated. She's never felt this way before in her life. And it makes things more than a little uncomfortable.

Why couldn't she be normal and fancy Harry Potter? The girls around school seem to be absolutely captivated by his every breath. No, Demelza can't be like that—she has to be head-over-heels for someone even more unattainable than the Boy Who Lived. It's painful—completely excruciating. She feels like she's being slowly torn apart during every practice when the quaffle is tossed between them. And Demelza hates the thought of love and romance, yet, while in class, her mind sometimes wanders to the brilliant, confident Quidditch player.

It's too much to bear sometimes.

…

Demelza shivers as she walks to Hogsmeade with Leanne at her side. Her friend is gossiping to her about something she heard in the hallway. She can't verify a single claim, but Demelza continues to listen intently anyway. They make it to the Three Broomsticks, the only warm place in this town. A nice butterbeer sounds fantastic.

When they walk inside, her heart flutters for a moment. Her eyes drift to the girl sitting and laughing loudly with a few seventh year friends of hers. Leanne waves at her, nearly jumping up and down. Demelza feels her cheeks grow warm, envisioning the ruddy glow they must be emitting now. It's embarrassing.

"Come on, girls!" Katie scoots out of the way and Leanne seizes Demelza's arm. She drags her over, unwilling, and they both sit beside the seventh years. "Hello, lovely."

Demelza feels breathless before realizing she was referring to Leanne. She couldn't expect that one of the most popular Gryffindors could ever think of someone like Demelza Robins as _lovely_. It was stupid of her to even to suggest such a thing to herself. She orders a butterbeer from Rosmerta, who looks a tad dizzy today. She seem distracted by something inside of her own head. Sitting next to Katie Bell, Demelza knows the feeling.

After a few minutes of Demelza sitting in silence and the others chattering mindlessly, Katie excuses herself to the restroom. Leanne looks up at Demelza and something seems to suddenly strike her. She screws up her face as if she's surprised, and Demelza can only look at her for a few moments.

"You've barely said a word," Leanne says, as if it's a ground-breaking discovery.

Demelza hesitates, glances towards the lavatory, then looks back at the distracted seventh years.

"I've got to go," Demelza says softly, standing up and walking away before Leanne can protest.

Why? _Why_? Why is she so damned idiotic?

…

Demelza had run to the hospital wing as fast as her legs could carry her. She stumbles a few times, spun down hallways and aggravated Filch, but she had to be there. Breaking through the door, she stands, panting as she sees Leanne sobbing at an innate Katie's side. She steps in slowly and sits down on one of the beds, across from her friend and secret love.

Leanne doesn't even look up, so Demelza creeps over to her and wraps her arm around her. The weeping wreck burrows her head on Demelza's shoulder and cries. Demelza rubs her back comfortingly, but her eyes are fixated on Katie Bell. Madame Pomfery is pacing in circles, seeming to be waiting for something. They must have called the Headmaster—or even Professor McGonagall. It seems bad.

Demelza doesn't necessarily feel worried about death, or where the cursed jewelry could have come from. What she's anxious and excessively concerned about is how she never let Katie know how she felt about her. She could be gone with the wind and Demelza never even let on about her powerful fancy. It's possible that she lost any chance to see if maybe, just maybe Katie felt the same.

She hugs Leanne a little bit tighter.

…

"Katie!" The flock of students around the recently healed Katie Bell has finally parted.

Her teammate looks up, stares for a moment and them seems to suffer recognition. She smiles and walks over, hugging Katie as she embraced everyone else she saw. She claps her on the back like a friend and fellow player, then stands back for a moment. She looks wan and damaged, but much healthier than inanimate on the infirmary bed.

"Hey," she says quietly, smiling even brighter. Her teeth are such a gorgeous, pearly white. They seem to sparkle. Does Demelza love her because she's beautiful, or is she beautiful because she loves her?

"Are you feeling better?" Demelza inquires and Katie nods.

"Much," she replies, grinning.

"Can I... Can I tell you something?" Demelza asks softly, suddenly feeling very faint.

"Of course," Katie replies with confidence.

Demelza pauses, shaking. She feels like she's wobbling uncontrollably, but that can't possibly be the case. Her heart is beating faster than it does during a particularly heated match. Katie stands there, waiting for what it is Demelza has to say.

"I like you," Demelza finally blurts out, glancing around the corridor nervously. "A lot."

Katie seems shocked for a moment.

"You're... amazing." Demelza is flushed a bright red, her heart sinking more and more at each passing second. She was well aware it wasn't reciprocal.

Katie hesitates for a moment before leaning forward and kissing Demelza on the lips. It seems experimental, not as loving and affectionate as Demelza always imagined. Newly emboldened, the younger girl kisses her back, causing Katie to break away for a moment.

They don't know where this is going—they can only stare.

"I just had to tell you. I thought you would never know back there," Demelza explains, trying to salvage herself, but still on fire from the kisses.

"I don't know what to say." It's impossible to tell if that's bad or good.

Demelza purses her lips.

But, the thing is, no matter how hard she tried to dodge her feelings like a rogue bludger, she knew she had to say something. And she's glad she opened her heart, even if it's going to be broken.

She loves Katie more than anyone else.

And that's the way it will be until the end.


End file.
